Cross Reference to Related Application
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/011,231, filed Feb. 06, 1996.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alarm systems and more particularly pertains to a new barking dog sound alarm system for scaring away intruders using the menacing sounds of a dog.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of alarm systems is known in the prior art. More specifically, alarm systems heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art alarm systems include U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,583; U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,920; U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,247; U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,887; U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,007; U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,737; U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,063; U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,343; U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,520; U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,120; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 334,930.
Of the above mentioned patents, only patents U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,583 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,920 utilize detected noise to activate prerecorded sounds of a menacing dog to scare away intruders. However, these devices do not contain a way to determine whether the detected noise is a potential intruder or innocent ambient noise, thus the alarms in these devices will be needlessly sounded in many instances. In addition, these devices utilize only a single recorded dog sound, so these alarms cannot be tailored to the individual user's preference and the users personal situation.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new barking dog sound alarm system. The inventive device includes a microphone for detecting noise, a device to compare the detected noise level to a reference level so as to determine whether the detected noise is a potential intruder, a plurality of sound recordings of different excited dogs, a speaker for broadcasting one of the recordings, and a controller for activating one of the sound recordings when the detected noise is determined to be a potential intruder.
In these respects, the barking dog sound alarm system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of scaring away intruders using the menacing sounds of a dog.